Holly and Berries

Happy New Year to you all. The ABC Christmas Challenge has started with their Christmas themed challenges. The first is A – anything goes Christmas, B – Berries. Here is my card:

So – pink………I know – but I love the way this looks…… I am not a pink girl in general, but I just thought I’d try this out.

The pink background is dry embossed using a Spellbinders embossing folder, then splattered with white and silver acrylic shimmer paint. Whilst this was drying, I die cut a previously created panel of green mica spray with the Hero Arts holly dies.

The holly was layered onto the pink background using glue for the bottom sprig, and 3D foam for the uppermost sprig.

For the berries, I chose some red sequins.

So many shimmer and shine elements, and then I added a foiled greeting strip too…

I hope you can come and join us with your Christmas/festive creations following out themes. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Creative Inspirationanything goes

Crafts Galore anything goes

Daisy Chain no designer paper

Ellibelle’s Corneranything goes

The Crafty Addictsanything goes

Love To Craft anything goes

Merry Little Christmas Challengeanything goes Christmas

Mix It Up Challengeanything goes – option of mixed media taken – acrylic paint, foiling, mica sprays


T is for Texture

Hello once again. It is my turn to host at The Alphabet Challenge. As we have reached the letter ‘T’, I chose the theme of ‘Texture’. Texture can be added however you want to add it – embossing folder, paste, stencil – create texture in any way you choose.

Here is my card:

I added texture a couple of different ways here. The first was the background blue. This is a piece of acetate, tissue paper stuck down to one side of it, crinkling it as I went along. I then added water then Brushos added to create a dark and deep blue. Once the piece was dry, I went over the top of the crinkles with Hero Arts gold wax.

I then worked on the arch frame using Simon Says Stamp dies, and then stuck the frame on top of the blue crinkled tissue paper.

The leaf dies are also from Simon Says Stamp, and themselves have some texture to them with the detail on the leaves.

More texture added with the gold sequins, before I then adhered the gold foiled sentiment.

I hope you can come and join us and share your projects incorporating ways of adding texture. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Ellibelle’s Corneranything goes

The Crafty Addicts anything goes

Creative Artiste Mixed Mediaanything goes mixed media (foil, wax, Brushos, wet glue)

Stay Crafty With a Blog Named Hero – Shiny – using at least one Hero Arts product (Hero Wax)

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friendsanything goes

Ally’s Angelsanything goes

Sunflowers For A friend

Hello again. I have a card to share from a very messy play time:

I first created the background panel by using stencil and grit paste onto water-colour card, so I could set that aside and let it dry.

I then ink smooshed some brown and orange Distress Inks onto different Distress White Heavystock panels and set those aside to dry.

I then found a piece of yellow and green paper, created during a gel plate session using either water-colours or acrylic paint (I can’t remember which), so I used that panel to die cut the flowers, and layered with another white die cut piece of card to add some stability.

Once dry, I die cut the layers from Honey Bee Stamps ‘Lovely Layers Sunflower‘, placing my dies where I wanted to add to get some white areas, solid areas, and some splattering from the ink smooshing.

The brown centres were die cut from some grey ink smooshing, but they were too grey, so I added some ink blending with brown Distress Oxides.

The next thing to do was stick everything down – I had forgotten what to use to glue things down onto the grit paste. My normal wet glue didn’t work, and I couldn’t find my gel medium – I must have a few containers stored ‘safely’ somewhere – so I used glossy accents….that seemed to have done the trick.

I then added the foiled sentiment and some gold facetted gems, stuck down with a drop of glossy accents.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challengestencil fun

FarmQuest Challengesunflowers

My Time To Craft In The Garden

We Love 2 Createanything goes mixed media

Ellibelle’s Corneranything goes

Die Cut Divaslayered die cuts or layer die cuts

Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge anything goes mixed media – use at least three mediums

Christmas Penguins

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge has started the new ‘anything goes Christmas’ challenge. Here is my card:

I used a slimline card base and die cut the Mama Elephant frame. The inner part was ink blended with Distress Oxides, and some glitter paste was added through a stencil and then out to one side to dry.

The penguin and igloo images from a Time 4 Tea Designs were stamped, coloured with Copics, then die cut with the matching dies.

I also created a silver glitter card strip using a stitched wavy die – and even though it wasn’t long enough for this card, I cut the strip first, then die cut twice to get the wavy stitching at the top.

The ink blended panel was now dry, so all the elements were added with either glue or 3D foam.

I hope you can come and join us with your Christmas/Festive creations. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Creative Fingersanything goes

Shopping Our Stash any wild animal

Crafty Animalsanything goes with an animal

Creative Artiste Mixed Media challenge anything goes mixed media (Copics, ink, paste)

We Love 2 Createanything goes mixed media (Copics, ink, paste)

Die Cut Divas anything goes with die cuts

Shabby Chic……GDT Craft Challenge

Hello there. I was lucky enough to be chosen as winner of a previous challenge at The Craft Challenge, and invited to be a Guest Design Team member for an upcoming challenge. The challenge theme is ‘Shabby Chic’ – here is my card:

So – I am hearing you ask ‘is this really Loopyloo? Has someone taken over her blog for a day?’ Well – this was certainly a challenge for me – but I’m giving it a go – and I really had fun with this card….

I asked for hints and tips from Jo and the CRAFT Team – and was advised to be posh in a tatty way, some torn paper. I also had a look through Pinterest – quite a bit of research to give me ideas – and then I played….!

I hunted out some patterned paper, some paper flowers, some pearls, my edge distress tool, and my ribbon.

My card base is 5×7 inches, and I added several pieces of patterned paper, various but muted colours, distressed the edges, inked those distressed edges just a little with some Distress Ink and glued them down. I offset them so you can see the layers, and so that the large rose on the top piece of paper could also be seen.

I found some shabby ribbon which I have ‘stored’ for the past 3 years, and used a muted brown colour as a base for the flowers. Using my hot glue gun I added the ribbon, the flowers – cutting and bending until I was happy with the outcome. I added some gold wax to some of the leaves which I thought were too bright

I found some pearls in varying sizes and attached them with wet glue – dotted them all around the flowers, and onto the ribbon.

I really had fun adding all the embellishments and details. It was a challenge for me – but I think I rose to the occasion…..

I hope you give it a go and join us at The Craft Challenge. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

The Crafty Addicts anything goes

Avenue 613 Createanything goes

Creative Fingersanything goes

Beautiful Blossomsflowers

Hello Bee Friend

Cardz 4 Galz has started a new challenge. Sue is hosting and has chosen the theme of ‘cute animals or insects’. Here is my card:

I first stamped the images from Simon Says Stamp, then coloured with Copics, and cut them out with the matching die set.

I die cut the Sizzix honeycomb through a card panel, then die cut it again using the outer and detail die in a light Kraft card stock, and layered that on top.

I played with some orange and yellow Distress Inks and smooshing, and placed this behind the honeycomb, then added all to a card base.

I added the coloured bees and the foiled sentiment, and dotted some sequins around and about for more shine.

I hope you can come and join us with your cute animals or insects. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

We Love 2 Createanything goes mixed media (Copics, Distress Inks, foiling, stamping)

Crafty Animalsanything goes with an animal

Creative Artiste Mixed Mediaanything goes mixed media (Copics, Distress Inks, Foiling, Stamping)

A Perfect Time To Craft anything goes

Crafting Happiness anything goes

Creative Fingersanything goes

Ally’s Angels anything goes

Messy Play Poinsettia

Hello once again. The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge has started a new challenge – anything goes Christmas/Festive. Here is my card:

I used a few techniques for this image, having a little messy playtime in my craft room.

The background to the poinsettia is from a Distress Oxide ink smooshing session. I seem to have a lot of inky backgrounds from playing around with the inks and oxides which I must try and use at some point….

Onto the ink smooshed background, I stamped the Tim Holtz poinsettia image. This was stamped in embossing ink, then I added pinches of Distress embossing powder onto the image (a technique I’ve wanted to try since seeing Tim Holtz demonstrate it) using a red and a green embossing powder, then heat setting.

I added a gold layer then as I felt the panel was looking quite vintage, I placed onto a Kraft card base.

The foiled sentiment was added as you see.

I hope you can come and join us. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

We Love 2 Createanything goes mixed media

Most Magical Time Of The Year anything goes Halloween or Christmas

Creative Artiste Mixed Media anything goes mixed media

A Perfect Time To Craftanything goes

12 Months Of Christmas anything goes Christmas – option of stars not taken

Beautiful Blossoms flowers

Leafy Birthday

I decided to put one of my gel plate backgrounds to use with this card:

The background was created using acrylic paints and a leaf stencil, onto which I also sprayed some Distress mica stain, add some dribbles of water, held the paper up to allow some drippage, and then let it dry.

I notice the mica stain seemed to resist the acrylic paint, so you can still see some leaves in the background.

The leaves are from a new Tim Holtz set, and the yellow parts are from an ink smooshing session, and that panel used to die cut the base leaves.

I decided to use red for the inner leave detail to really make them pop.

The sentiment is a foiled strip.

I am glad I was able to photograph the shimmer and shine of the distress mica stains.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge happy birthday

Color Throwdownred, yellow, green, white

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends anything goes

We Love 2 Createanything goes mixed media

Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge anything goes mixed media

Crafting Happiness anything goes

AAA Birthday challengeanything goes birthday

Here Is A Place To Start anything goes – option trees and/or leaves taken

There once was a cat and a ladder….

Hello. This sounds like the start to a limerick or other funny story, doesn’t it? I just couldn’t think what to call the post so I just wrote what I saw…..

The Alphabet Challenge has started a new challenge. We have reached the letter ‘G’, and Debbie has chosen the theme of ‘G is for Green as the dominant colour’. Here is my card:

I used a previously created green ink smooshed [iece of card, and added an alcohol ink banner at the top. Some different shades of green, with a little gold on the alcohol ink portion.

The cat, ladder, and the leafy sprigs are from Charlie and Paulchen, a German company I have ordered from a couple of times. They have some amazing die sets – very small but perfectly formed – as they say…..

The cat and sprigs were die cut out of white so they stood out from the green background, and the ladder die cut from some brown card, layered a couple of times for dimension.

I added a previously foiled sentiment at the top as it seemed to fit better that way.

Although there are a few layers, I still feel this is quite CAS – compared to recent cards anyway.

I hope you can come and join us with your creations which feature green predominantly. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Avenue 613 Createanything goes – option summertime

Die Cut Divasdie cuts and critters

The Crafty Addictsanything goes

Ally’s Angelsanything goes

ABC Christmas Challenge – A and B

Hello once again. The ABC Christmas Challenge is at the beginning of the alphabet again. Helen is hosting this time round, and we want to see your ‘A for Anything goes’ and ‘B for Bears’ Christmas creations. Here are my cards:

A is for Anything Goes
B is for Bear

As you can see – two very different styles of cards.

The first CAS card is using s Clearly Besotted image, stamping, colouring with Copics, then using an oval to die cut, layering that white oval with black, then adding a foiled sentiment.

The second definitely not CAS card took a little more preparation.

I sprayed some Tim Holtz mica spray onto some Distress Heavystock card, splattered with white acrylic paint and set aside to dry.

I then totally channeled Tim Holtz from one of his YouTube videos, and die cut the bear from white and grey wood grain card stock, layered together, then added a pink scarf using a previously created ink smooshed panel.

The trees were die cut from a panel of card onto which I had glued some tissue paper, added water, added Brushos, then when dry added some gold wax. The die cutting of the trees flattened the ridges on the trees – but if you add the wax prior to die cutting then the detail is still there.

I snipped and placed the trees, added the bear, added some white glitter drops for the snow on the ground, then added the sentiment – die cutting the ‘board’ from the same white and grey card stock, and adding the letters in a haphazard fashion – I struggle with straight when I do a sentiment like this, so I went overboard with the higgledy-piggledy.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

CAS card:

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends anything goes

Creative Knockouts anything goes

Crafting Happiness celebrations

Ellibelle’s Corner anything goes

Bear card:

2 Crafty Critter Craziesanything goes with critter as main focus

The Four seasons Challenge anything goes winter

Challenge Up Your Life ice, ice, baby

Most Magical Time Of The Yearanything goes Christmas or Halloween